Heather Mills snaps up favourite seaside café for vegan venture

16 MARCH 2009Currently on a mission to bring meat-free cooking to kids in the Bronx, Heather Mills is set to do the same thing for residents of Hove, close to her UK home. The former wife of Sir Paul McCartney has bought her favourite local seaside café, and plans to turn it into a vegan establishment.

The 41-year-old has taken over the Big Fish café in Hove, East Sussex – where she used to eat often with her husband and their daughter Beatrice before the couple's divorce. "They'd have veggie breakfasts and soya milk tea," says the café's former owner Nick Short. "Heather said she'd like to buy the place if it came on the market."

When Nick decided to sell he remembered the conversation and got in touch with the former model to work out a deal. An agreement was finally signed on Friday for £140,000 – less than the pre-credit crunch figure of £255,000 which former proprietor Nick says was verbally agreed on.

Heather is renovating the eaterie and plans to take fish, and all animal products off the menu. "I think Hove, any town really, will be well served by a healthy foods cafe like this," says her spokesperson.